Igor Figueiredo

Name: Igor Figueiredo

DOB: 11th October 1977

Nationality: Brazilian

Turned Pro: 2010

Highest Ranking: 65th (September 2010)

Highest Break: 114 (2011 Brazil Masters)

Career Highlights: 2010 IBSF World Championship Finalist, 2015 World Championship last 48, 2012 World Championship last 64, 2014 UK Championship last 16, World Open last 64, 2013 World Games semi-finalist

Amateur Career

Before 2009 Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo had only played on a ten-foot table with ten reds as is commonplace in South America, but following his decision to enter the the PIOS tour at the start of 2009/10, his results were more than good enough to raise a few eyebrows.

While he could not make it to the last four of a PIOS event, his consistency was impressive as he won at least one match during each event, peaking with a quarter-final run at Event 8 to finish 12th on the year-end ranking list.

His most significant achievement during 2009/10 however was his spectacular run to the final of the 2009 IBSF World Championship during which he saw off Patrick Einsle, Yasin Merchant, Kamal Chawla and Yu Delu before losing out 10-8 to an in-form Alfie Burden in Hyderabad.

This was enough to convince World Snooker that he was deserving of a chance at the main tour and he was duly handed a wildcard place for 2010/11.

2010/11

As a new player to the tour for 2010/11, Igor started impressively with victories in each of the first five PTC events as well as further wins during the qualifying stages of both the Shanghai Masters and the World Open. The latter tournament in particular was notable for Igor as he was able to make it to the venue stage of an event for the first time where he lost out to double world champion Mark Williams.

Unfortunately however Igor was to struggle from this point, losing each of his opening round matches during the season’s five remaining major tournaments, most notably his World Championship qualifier which he lost 10-5 to Ireland’s Joe Delaney.

Although Igor finished the season ranked 80th, he had at least just done enough to retain his tour card for 2011/12 by virtue of his strong early season performances during the Players Tour Championship events.

2011/12

Due to financial problems Igor was unfortunately unable to compete on the main tour during the first half of the 2011/12 season, though he was at least able to play in the Brazilian Masters at the Costão do Santinho Resort. There he impressed with a top break of 114 during a 4-2 victory against Stoke’s Jamie Cope, before losing out to eventual finalist Graeme Dott at the quarter-final stage.

His next appearance would come at the 2012 World Championship qualifiers where he defeated Jamie O’Neill, Andrew Norman and Liu Song to reach the third qualifying round, before losing out 10-7 to Joe Jogia. Though he was inevitably to be relegated at the end of the season, his run was impressive given the lack of professional snooker that he had contested during the campaign.

2012/13

During 2013/4, Igor was to win a specially organised event to earn a return to the main tour from 2013/14 via the Americas nomination.

2013/14

As had been the case previously, Igor was unable to secure the necessary funding to be able to compete regularly on the professional circuit, but he was to appear at the World Games in Cali, Colombia. There he was able to defeat Alex Borg and Lyu Haotian to reach the semi-finals, before losing out to Liang Wenbo.

At the end of the season, Igor also entered the season-ending World Championship, defeating Adam Duffy and Gerard Greene to reach the third qualifying round, before being handed a 10-1 defeat by Martin Gould.

2014/15

Igor was able to play in a greater number of events during the course of the 2014/15 season, defeating Fergal O’Brien 6-4 at the UK Championship to reach the last 64, as well as Kurt Maflin in qualifying for the German Masters.

Most dramatically however, Igor defeated Nigel Bond and Rod Lawler, the latter 10-9 on the black, having at one stage surrendered an 8-2 lead at the 2015 World Championship.

Unfortunately however Igor lost 10-4 to Robin Hull in the final qualifying round and finishing with a ranking of 84th, was relegated from the tour at the end of the season.